Cleveland Township temporarily stopped Dollar General from expanding into Leelanau County by putting a sixmonth moratorium on zoning and building in their business districts.
A Dollar General representative confi rmed that the company was considering opening a new store at South Maple City and Cemetery roads a couple weeks ago. At the time of writing, Leelanau County is the only county in the state that does not have a Dollar General.
Cleveland Township Supervisor Tim Stein said they stopped the discount chain store’s expansion because they are concerned Dollar General could be a threat to the township and the purposes of its zoning ordinance, which is to “promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of Cleveland Township” among other things.
Stein also said they were responding to public input. According to Stein, the township received at least 40 emails regarding the proposed Dollar General since it was reported in the Jan. 30 edition of this newspaper, and all of them were negative.
“It would be an understatement to say that the Enterprise stating Dollar General was looking at Cleveland Township for a store created quite a stir,” Stein said. “It certainly got the township concerned about some things as well.”
Some township residents opposed the expansion because they felt it wasn’t in character with Leelanau County. The county has many small locally owned businesses, but very few chain stores or restaurants like Dollar General. Others said the stores have exploitative business practices.
So, the township board held a special meeting Tuesday evening and unanimously approved a moratorium on all development in the business districts until Aug. 4, with the option to renew it for an additional six months if the board is still “not in a position to make the necessary decisions or the necessary judgments in the township’s best interests.”
This will not only stop the Dollar General’s development, but all permitting and zoning changes in Cleveland Township’s business districts for at least six months. A map of the township’s zoning districts can be found at leelanau.gov/ townships/cleveland.
Other concerns raised by Stein included that it was unclear that a discount chain store was an allowed use in the township’s business 2 district; that the site may infringe on the township’s scenic overlay district; and that the proposal directly conflicts with the new draft of the township’s master plan.
Stein said they also need to collaborate with Kasson Township to understand the impact of the proposed Dollar General, since the parcel borders a residential district in the neighboring township. He said that planning commission Chairman Dean Manikas and township attorney Tim Figura will try to assess these impacts during the moratorium.
When Dollar General tried to open a store on M-22 in Empire Village in 2019, that village council also used a moratorium on zoning requests to prevent it. This ultimately filibustered the expansion.
A public hearing and site plan review for the proposed Dollar General location were scheduled for Wednesday evening, but they have been canceled. Stein said that the planning commission would still have its regular meeting, which is scheduled after publication of this edition.
